RIP (Removing Invasive Plants Program) Fall Work Events

November 2005

Contents

Upcoming Events  RIP (Removing Invasive Plants Program) – Fall Work Events  Raingarden Workday Scheduled for Friday 11th  The Fish of Sligo Creek  Stormwater Regulations and Permitting Meeting News and Announcements  Information Boxes in Sligo  What is a Raingarden?  Friends Weighs in on the ‘Land Use, Preservation, Parks and Recreation Plan’  Montgomery County Water Quality Advisory Group Letter on the ICC and Water Quality  Preserving the History of Sligo  Thanks to All For The Trees  Country Seeks Applicants for Silver Spring/Takoma Advisory Committee From the Board of Directors

Upcoming Events

RIP (Removing Invasive Plants Program) Fall Work Events The fall schedule is printed below. There will be events every Saturday and Sunday in November. Every Friends member is invited and encouraged to discover what RIP events are like. This is an important and enjoyable way to help preserve our Park for future generations! For more information see www.fosc.org/RIPEventSched.htm, or contact Lea Bonfiglio at [email protected]. or 301-807-4697. Event leaders will have cotton gloves and clippers, but bring your own if you like. Wear long sleeves, pants and sturdy shoes. Before you come, please visit the FoSC home page for unexpected last-minute changes.

Fall Schedule of Rip Events Between New Hampshire and Maple Avenue Sundays, 2 to 4 pm., at the Pavilion. Nov. 13, 20; Dec. 4, 11. Between Maple Avenue and Piney Branch Saturdays, 1 to 3 pm, at the Kennebec Park kiosk. Nov. 12, 19; Dec. 3, 10 Between Piney Branch and Wayne Saturdays, 10 am to 12, at the playground near the parking lot for the Big Field. Nov. 12, 19; Dec. 3, 10 Between Wayne and Colesville Sundays, 1 to 3 pm., at the Park-in below the Tennis Courts. Nov. 13, 20; Dec. 4, 11 Between Colesville and Forest Glen Sundays, 10 am to 12, at the Soccer Field Bridge. Nov. 13, 20; Dec. 4, 11. Between Forest Glen and Dennis Avenue Saturdays, 10 am to 12, at Playground off Dameron Drive. Nov. 12, 19 Dec. 3, 10. Between Dennis Ave. and University Blvd. Saturdays, 2 to 4 pm, at Windham Lane entrance to the Park. Nov. 12, 19; Dec. 3, 10 South of New Hampshire Sundays 11 - 1 pm, at Hillwood Manor Playground. Nov 20. Dennis Avenue Sunday, 11am to 1 pm, at the Dennis Avenue Recreation Center. Nov. 13

For directions or more details on these events, please see http://www.fosc.org/RIPEventSched.htm.

Raingarden Workday Scheduled for Friday 11th, 10:00 to 2:00 Where: Intersection of Elm and Prince Georges Streets in Takoma Park  Come for the whole time or for as long as you can.  Bring tools if you have them: a shovel, a wheelbarrow, a trowel.  Come dressed to dig. What’s Happening on Friday? This is our second event. We will dig and plant. The first event, held on November 5, went very well. We had at least 20 volunteers, including two students working for student learning credits, members of Friends of Sligo, and others from the local neighborhood. We are almost finished digging up the compacted soil and adding mulch. We have a little more digging to do. Then we get to plant! We’ll plant native species that the City of Takoma Park is providing. This project is not only good for the environment, but provides a wonderful opportunity for “hands- on” education about raingardens (see the article below, “What is a Raingarden?”). About the Forest Park Raingarden The City of Takoma Park and Friends of Sligo Creek are partnering to build the raingarden at Forest Park. The City is providing plants and materials and Friends of Sligo and the Park’s neighbors are providing the labor. Before we started work, we met with neighbors and City staff and agreed on the plan. The raingarden will reduce runoff and erosion and enhance the quality of the park. None of the recent renovations to the park will be affected. Care has been taken to design the raingarden to protect the trees. Robert Goo, a member of Friends of Sligo Creek is the neighborhood contact at 301 270 6413. For directions or more information about this event, contact Ann Hoffnar at 301 585 8891 or [email protected].

The Fish of Sligo Creek: Scientist to Give Lecture in Silver Spring On Tuesday, November 15, Susan Flanders Cushman will discuss her research of the blacknose dace which inhabit the Sligo and many other urban streams in the area. Not many people realize that fish actively inhabit Sligo Creek’s waters. By gaining a better understanding of these small, quiet animals, we may also gain important insights into water quality problems throughout the watershed and find clues to solving some urban pollution problems. Susan has been studying dace and other pollution tolerant species for some time in Maryland’s waterways. “I was curious to know if fish in urban streams moved around more than those in rural streams,” she says. In addition to learning about fish in the Sligo, she hopes to gain a greater understanding of urban fish in other Maryland waterways. Her work has included Cabin John Creek and Seneca Creek Montgomery County and some of the waterways of Howard and Baltimore Counties. Data collected at all of these sites will give her a better understanding of how fish behave and use stream habitat in both urban and rural watersheds. The meeting will be held at the Long Branch Community Center on Piney Branch Road in Silver Spring, is free and open to the public and will begin at 7:15 pm.

Storm Water Regulations and Permitting Meeting A Public Meeting on Montgomery County’s stormwater permit under the federal Clean Water Act will be hosted by the Maryland Department of the Environment and will include local officials. The meeting will be Tuesday November 29, 2005, at 5:30 pm, Rockville Metro Center, 255 Rockville Pike, Large Conference Rm., Suite 140. Take the pedestrian bridge from the Rockville Metro Station, or park under the building. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) issues federal Clean Water Act permits to municipalities, aimed at reducing their stormwater pollution (including from private developments under local regulation). Montgomery County has been working with such a permit since 1996, in five-year cycles. The county’s third stormwater permit will be issued in the summer of 2006, following public input and discussion. What are the most important pollution reduction strategies and water body restoration goals for you and your group? How can these strategies be translated into accountable, measurable actions by the County? Come to this meeting to share your information and priorities! For more information contact: [email protected] (301)933-1210

News and Announcements

Information Boxes in Sligo As reported last month, Friends has now put up sign boxes in Sligo Creek Park. These sign boxes are getting quite a bit of positive attention, and people have been coming out to work events because they have seen the sign box notices. We also recently posted information in the boxes about where to report problems in Sligo. If you have any suggestions on information that you would like to see posted in these boxes, please contact Alice Lowthorp at [email protected].

What is a Raingarden? First, what it is not:  It is not a mosquito breeding area. The water raingardens catch seeps into the soil within a few hours or overflows into the storm drain in the event of a very large storm.  It is not a pond; rather, it is more like a big sponge. The sponge gets very full when it rains, but there will be no standing water in the raingarden for more than a few hours. So, What is it? Raingardens are one of many stormwater management techniques. When it rains, much of the water flows over impervious surfaces such as asphalt, concrete, and roofs (and unfortunately even grass lawns often act as somewhat impervious surfaces). It runs off quickly and heads for the nearest storm drain. The water carries sediment and other pollutants with it as it rushes down the storm drain and into the nearest creek. The runoff causes bank erosion, water quality degradation and other serious problems. Raingardens help hold some of the water where it falls long enough that it can seep into the ground, which cleans and purifies it naturally. Raingardens are built by digging out some soil (in the case of Forest Park about 6 inches deep); using the dug up soil to build a berm around the area that acts like a tiny dam; putting in soil amended with very absorbent materials; and planting native plants in the finished area. The Forest Park demonstration raingarden will help keep the rain that falls in Forest Park in the park, reduce erosion that affects the trees, keep runoff and sediment out of local streams and demonstrate good stormwater management techniques. Want to know more? Go to the Friends website section on stormwater management - http://www.fosc.org/StormwaterMgmt.htm , or, from the Friends home site enter “raingarden” in the search box on the right.

Friends Weighs in on 2006 Land Use, Preservation, Parks and Recreation Plan (LPPRP) As reported in the June and July Friends of Sligo Creek newsletters, Friends has been active in working with the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission (M- NCPPC) on this document. The LPPRP is a long-term strategic plan outlining the needs and expected uses of the parks over the next decade or so. We were pleased that M-NCPPC incorporated many of our ideas and concerns in the final draft of this paper. However, we still have some concerns, which were recently communicated to M-NCPPC. Our concerns center on the balance between construction of new recreational facilities and the more fundamental needs of the parks – Sligo and others – supporting their environmental health, and for maintenance. While new facilities can be a wonderful way for us to enjoy our parks, trying to respond to the strong and growing demands for new facilities can outstrip M- NCPPC’s ability (budget and staff) to keep the parks healthy and the facilities properly maintained. We are actively working with M-NCPPC to incorporate needed elements of maintaining a healthy greenspace in their upcoming documents. In addition to their usual documents, they intend to produce a ‘Green Infrastructure’ paper by 2007. Anyone who would like to get involved in working with Friends and M-NCPPC on these issues should contact Michael Pollock ([email protected]).

Montgomery County Water Quality Advisory Group - Letter on the ICC and Water Quality The Montgomery County Water Quality Advisory Group (WQAG) is an 18-member citizens' committee that provides input via annual recommendations to the County Executive and the County Council on water quality management goals and policies, program priorities, and funding. Established by the Water Quality Discharge Law in 1994, the Group provides this input primarily by transmitting resolutions or letters of support. Recommendations may also be directed to other organizations in and around the Chesapeake Bay region, or be requested in development of watershed plans. Friends of Sligo Creek is represented on the committee. WQAG recently sent a letter to the Montgomery Country Council that relates to the Intercounty Connector (ICC), and its potential impact upon our local waterways. A project of this size will negatively impact the streams of the Anacostia River. This letter calls for a non- degradation standard to be adopted for the ICC. The Anacostia Watershed Society wants to make sure that this letter is broadly distributed. A copy is available on the Friends website at http://www.fosc.org/PDF/ICCLetterToCountyCouncil.pdf. You may circulate it around to those you feel would be interested. For more information on WQAG please go to http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/deptmpl.asp?url=/content/dep/WQAG/home.asp#Water %20Quality%20Discharge%20Law. For more information on the ICC and its impact on our community, please contact Michael Pollock at 301 649 1165 or [email protected].

Preserving the History of Sligo It's time to take a renewed look at collecting and preserving Sligo Creek’s history. David Paglin, who grew up in the Sligo watershed, is directing an oral history project concerning the Anacostia region. Friends of Sligo has a preliminary list of old-timers who could be interviewed, and David would be happy to work with any of us on interviewing. By the end of 2006 he hopes to have material on-line. A few years ago some of us considered producing a walking tour brochure, or interviewing to collect historical material before it was lost. Do you have a story to tell, or an interesting bit of history to share about Sligo? Or, have you been researching some aspect of Sligo’s history? Please consider sharing what you know! Contact Sally Gagné, [email protected]

Thanks to All for the Trees Fifteen to twenty members from Friends of Sligo helped with the big Tree Planting at Forest Glen on the last weekend of October. Everyone involved in the event has expressed gratitude to us: Carole Bergmann, who provided the trees, John Galli, Council of Governments, who set up the project (and, with his assistant Trieu, augured the holes through many roots), and Ken Ferrari, Park Manager. They have all asked that their thanks be expressed through this Newsletter. Thanks are reciprocal, of course - a major tree planting is no small event, and our group could not begin to undertake it on our own. So speaking for all of us at Friends, we are happy and grateful for John's and Carole's involvement and for Ken's help. He wrote that "the site looks wonderful indeed!" Working together, we are all helping to make a better Park! Country Seeks Applicants for Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board. County Executive Douglas M. Duncan is seeking applicants to fill six vacancies on the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board. The Board is composed of 18 residents and/or business persons of communities in the Silver Spring/Takoma Park area. Members serve without compensation. The Board acts as liaison between the Silver Spring communities and the county government by identifying neighborhood and business concerns and making recommendations to county officials. It advises the Silver Spring Regional Services Center Director on area needs and priorities such as economic development, transportation, housing, education, human services, and downtown redevelopment. Interested citizens should apply in writing by November 21 to County Executive Douglas M. Duncan at the Executive Office Building, l0l Monroe St., Rockville, MD 20850 or send an e-mail to [email protected] . A brief resume, including work and home phone numbers, should be enclosed. Friends of Sligo Creek hopes that some of our environmentally active members will consider serving on this committee.

From the Board of Directors

The board usually meets on the first Tuesday of each month and we summarize major items of discussion here. If you have questions or comments about Friends of Sligo Creek policies or activities, please let one of us hear from you. Check our website for names and contact information at http://www.focs.org/Board.htm . This month:

 We discussed plans for the upcoming program meeting and began planning for the January and March meetings  We discussed the RIP program, including lessons learned, and made plans to submit another grant proposal to continue the program, including staffing with a coordinator  We decided to provide funds for the Stormwater Committee to hire laborers to help prepare the soil in the Forest Park Raingarden, where they encountered problems that volunteers could not handle  We discussed the increasing amount of advocacy work Friends of Sligo Creek is doing and the need to organize and focus it.  We cheered when Bruce Sidwell announced his willingness to be president for the upcoming year.

News items collected and edited by Michael Pollock and Ann Hoffnar. Do you have an item about Sligo that you would like to see here? Please send it to Michael at [email protected].